Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia (which is a subsidiary brand of the Hyundai corporation) have admitted to errors in the calculation of MPG figures on 900,000 vehicles sold from 2011 to now, and they have voluntarily set up a program to reimburse current and former owners of affected models. On most vehicles the difference is 1-2 miles per gallon lower than stated on the window sticker. The biggest discrepancy was on the Kia Soul, with certain models having been misstated by as much as 5 MPG.

As the car market was exploding with multiple flavors of hybrids, from Prius to Escalade, Nissan made a big bet that electric cars would be the real future of energy efficiency, rather than hybrids. Thus, they poured all their efforts into developing and marketing the all-electric Leaf, and virtually ignored the hybrid marketplace. Sure, they had a hybrid Altima for a while, but that borrowed technology from Toyota rather than being developed in-house. The only other hybrid in the family is the Infiniti M.

Automakers have been using aluminum in cars for several decades. Gearheads will fondly remember GM’s 350LT-1 V8 with cast aluminum block and heads of yesteryear. Most automakers have stopped making cast aluminum blocks due the expense, but most of them are still using aluminum heads in their 4-cylinder engines. There is now a race to do everything possible to meet the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements set to take affect soon. Some automakers are going back to incorporating aluminum into their designs. And many are doing away with steel body panel construction in favor of stamped aluminum panels.

In recent years Suzuki cars appeared as though they finally had the opportunity to carve themselves a small niche as interesting alternatives in a couple of key segments. The SX4 is the most affordable AWD car on the market, and the Kizashi proved to be a stylish, engaging drive in the mid-size segment.

However a report in Automotive News paints a picture of an auto company in retreat. Marketing budgets have been cut. Social media has evaporated. They skipped the Detroit and Los Angeles shows altogether.